Vaccination of rainbow trout against Streptococcus iniae infection: comparison of different routes of administration and different vaccines

Antibody production and clinical efficacy (relative percent survival RPS) were measured in 40±5g rainbow trout after immunization with two types of Streptococcus iniae vaccines consisting of formalin killed cells (FKC) and FKC enriched with the bacterial extracellular products (ECP) administered by intraperitoneal (i.p), immersion and oral routes at 16±1°C for 18 weeks. No significant difference was found in antibody levels among the fish i.p immunized with FKC enriched with ECP plus Freunds' adjuvant (FA), FKC plus FA and FKC vaccines (P>0.05), whilst the antibody production was significantly higher in these three groups than fish immunized by immersion and oral routes of FKC and FKC enriched ECP (P